How to enable or disable transparency effects in Windows 11

The transparency of Windows 11 makes the operating system more attractive to users. Windows 11 supports transparent backgrounds by default for the desktop, taskbar, start menu, Windows Terminal, and many other applications.

Transparency effects in Windows 11 are system settings that create translucency and visual depth on a flat screen. They are a Microsoft Fluent Design component called Acrylic that provides improved visual appeal for context menus, flyouts, and overlapping windows.

Content:

1. Features of transparency in Windows 11
2. How to enable transparency in Windows 11
3. How to turn off transparency in Windows 11
4. Turn transparency on or off in the Windows 11 registry
5. How to make the Windows 11 lock screen transparent
6. How to Make the Windows Start Menu Transparent
7. How to enable or disable transparency in Windows Terminal
8. How to enable or disable transparency on the command line
9. Article Conclusions
10. How to enable or disable transparency in Windows 11 (video)

Although they are called “transparency effects”, in practice there are very few applications for Windows that allow you to see what is behind the active window. For most apps, Windows 11 uses a translucent look that simply allows menu items, desktop, and taskbar to smoothly blend in, giving the illusion of translucency and depth.

On Windows 10, you can also use these options, although they are not as efficient. By default, transparency effects are enabled in the Windows 11 operating system.

In this guide, we will discuss how to enable transparency effects in Windows system. If you prefer a solid background color instead, you can turn off transparency in Windows 11. Transparency effects affect computer performance, so it’s best to turn them off on devices with low RAM.

For transparency to work in Windows 11, you need to disable the battery saver feature on your laptop. In this mode, Windows disables almost all graphical effects settings.

Features of transparency in Windows 11

The transparency effect in Windows 11 has its advantages and disadvantages, which you can read in this guide.

Benefits of transparency effects:

• Increased visual appeal – The texture of transparent objects appears more real and effective against the background, as opposed to solid objects.
• User Personalization – Users can personalize their favorite apps to make them look more personal.
• Working with Overlapping Screens – With transparency effects enabled, it is more pleasant to work with overlapping screen objects and content blocks.

Disadvantages of transparency effects in Windows 11:

• Slight Battery Drain – The effect causes the user to experience slightly more battery drain than when Transparency is disabled.
• It has little effect on overall system performance on weak PCs.

Next, we’ll show you how to enable or disable transparency effects in Windows 11 at the system level. You can use two methods.

How to enable transparency in Windows 11

You can use the Windows personalization options to enable transparency effects. Windows personalization options help you control the look of your desktop and support turning system-wide transparency on or off.

You can use the suggested method to enable or disable transparency from the system settings:

1. Launch Options.
2. Enter the “Personalization” tab.
3. Click on the “Colors” setting.

1. In the Transparency Effects option, move the switch to the On position.

This way you enable translucent windows and surfaces at the system level.

You can use another method to make some window backgrounds more transparent. Enabling this setting mainly affects the Taskbar, Action Center, and Start Menu.

Go through the following steps:

1. Right click on the start menu.
2. In the context menu, click on “Settings”.
3. In the options window, go to the “Accessibility” tab.
4. In the “Vision” section, click on the “Visual Effects” button.

1. Locate the “Transparency Effects” option, and then drag the switch slider to the “On” position.

How to turn off transparency in Windows 11

Transparency is enabled by default in Windows 11, but you can disable these effects on your computer at any time.

To disable transparency effects in the operating system, follow these steps:

1. Click the Start menu, click Settings.
2. In the OS settings window, open the “Personalization” tab.
3. Enter the “Colors” option.
4. In the Transparency Effects option, move the slider to the Off position.

Once disabled, you will notice a simple background for the Windows desktop and other system surfaces. To turn transparency back on, turn on the Transparency Effects option.

Disabling transparency for some system elements is done as follows:

1. Press the “Win” + “I” keys.
2. In the Settings app window, open the Accessibility tab.
3. In the “Vision” group, simply move the switch to the “Disabled” position.

Turn transparency on or off in the Windows 11 registry

If for some reason you are unable to achieve transparency or an opaque background despite toggling the toggle switch on or off, the following registry tweak can be used.

Do the following:

1. Go to the Windows search menu and search for “Registry Editor”.
2. Run Registry Editor as administrator.
3. In the “Registry Editor” window, go to the following path:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Personalize

1. Right click on the “EnableTransparency” option.
2. In the context menu, select “Edit …”.

1. In the Edit DWORD (32-bit) Value window, enter “1” in the Value field to enable transparency in Windows. To disable transparency, change the value to “0”.

1. Save your changes and then close the Registry Editor.
2. Restart your PC.

How to make the Windows 11 lock screen transparent

If you don’t have a splash screen, you can set a transparent lock screen when you sign in to Windows. The Windows lock screen usually includes transparency options if this setting is enabled on the system.

You can make a few changes to the registry to enhance the effect:

1. Open the registry editor in administrator mode using the “Search” field.
2. Follow the path:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM

1. Right-click on an empty space and then first select “New”, then “DWORD (32-bit) Value”.

1. Name the setting with the name “ForceEffectMode”.
2. Right-click on this setting to change its value. The default value is “0” and must be changed to “1” if you want to enable transparency on the lock screen.

1. To disable this effect, change the DWORD value back to “0”.

In addition to the Windows lock screen, the above registry setting can change the appearance of the start menu and taskbar.

How to Make the Windows Start Menu Transparent

You can make the Start menu more transparent by changing registry settings.

Do the following:

1. Open the registry editor on the computer as an administrator.
2. Follow the path:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

1. Create a new DWORD (32 bit) value named “UseOLEDTaskbarTransparency”.
2. Double click on the created parameter. In the window for changing the parameter, set the value to “1”. To disable transparency, set the value to “0”.

How to enable or disable transparency in Windows Terminal

The new Windows Terminal supports beautiful effects on a transparent background.

To enable Windows Terminal transparency, do the following:

1. Right click on the start menu.
2. From the menu that opens, launch “Windows Terminal (Administrator)”.
3. On the top bar of the Windows terminal, click on the arrow, and select “Options” from the drop-down menu.
4. In the panel of the “Settings” window, go to the “Profiles” section.
5. Click on Windows PowerShell.
6. Open the Design tab.
7. In the “Transparency” option, set the transparency of the background. For example, choose an opacity level of 50%. A suitable option is selected empirically.

1. Click on the “Save” button.
2. Go back to the Windows Terminal window screen to see the beautiful transparency effect.

To turn off transparency, click on the button (semicircular arrow) “Restore inherited value” or manually set the transparency level to 100%, and then click “Save”.

How to enable or disable transparency on the command line

The command line supports the transparency effect on Windows. It is very easy to enable or disable it from the Windows system tool options.

You can use the method from the Windows Terminal, as we used for PowerShell above in the article. Check out another option below.

Do the following:

1. Run Command Prompt as Administrator .
2. In the command line interpreter window at the top right, right-click.
3. Select “Properties” from the context menu.
4. In the command line properties window, open the Colors tab.
5. In the “Transparency” option, move the slider along the scale to make the CMD window more transparent.

1. Click on the “OK” button to apply the changes to the command line settings.

Article Conclusions

If necessary, you can use transparency effects in Windows 11. From the system settings, you can set transparency options at the system level or only for some elements. Such changes, in addition to Windows settings, are made in the system registry. Transparency can be set in the Windows terminal and on the command line.